maladroit

English

WOTD – 1 January 2016

Etymology

From French maladroit, from mal- (“bad, badly”) + adroit (“skilful”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmæl.əˈdɹɔɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

maladroit (comparative more maladroit, superlative most maladroit)

1. Not adroit; awkward, clumsy, inept. [from 1670s]
   • 2002 April 12, Peter Bradshaw, “Three go mad in Mexico”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Like the maladroit boy himself, the director does not believe in warming his audience up with narrative foreplay, and it's the same story when we cut to the family home of Julio's girlfriend, whose parents allow him into her bedroom to help her look for her passport, and she gleefully wrenches her tracksuit bottoms down.

   • 2003 March, Jonathan Rauch, “Caring for Your Introvert”, in The Atlantic Monthly‎^[2], archived from the original on 15 March 2010:

     Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate?

Derived terms

• maladroitly
• maladroitness

Translations

not adroit; clumsy

• Bulgarian: несръчен (bg) (nesrǎčen)
• Catalan: maldestre (ca)
• Dutch: onhandig (nl), onbeholpen (nl)
• Esperanto: mallerta
• French: maladroit (fr)
• Galician: mangariñas m, toutón m, fozón m, baldrocas m, torgalleiro m, támaro m, tarulo m, tamolas m, zoupón m, moucán m, chouso m, crenca m
• German: ungeschickt (de), unbeholfen (de)
• Norwegian: klossete, ubehjelpelig
• Serbo-Croatian: nespretan (sh) m, šeprtljav (sh) m, nezgrapan (sh) m
• Spanish: desacertado (es), torpe (es)
• Swedish: fumlig (sv), tafatt (sv), klumpig (sv)
• Tagalog: padaskul-daskol

Noun

maladroit (plural maladroits)

1. Somebody who is inept, or lacking in skill, or talent.

Anagrams

• matroidal

French

Etymology

From mal- +‎ adroit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.la.dʁwa/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

maladroit (feminine maladroite, masculine plural maladroits, feminine plural maladroites)

1. awkward; clumsy; maladroit

   Antonyms: adroit, habile, dextre

   • 2004 January 16, “Éditorial : Un cautère sur une jambe de bois”, in Aujourd'hui‎^[3]:

     Une revanche très maladroite et inopportune puisque les élus brillent par leur absence et les ingénieurs, informaticiens, physiciens et autres ne déméritent aucunement.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• maladroitement

Related terms

• maladresse

Descendants

• English: maladroit

Further reading

• “maladroit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.